A new flight route to Japan’s northerly island of Hokkaido will significantly cut travel time from the UK for skiers heading to the country’s famous powder ski destinations such as Niseko next winter.
The new Finnair service to the 1972 Winter Olympic host city of Sapporo will operate from 15 December 2019 to 27 March 2020 and will run twice a week from London via Helsinki.
A spokesperson for tour operator Ski Safari, which has run ski holiday tours to Japan for many years, says the new route will reduce travel time by a minimum of three hours, compared to the usual route from the UK where skiers fly to Tokyo and change planes for the final leg up to Sapporo from there.
“Japan is a key market for us, and we are excited about adding Sapporo to our network,” said Christian Lesjak, Senior Vice President, Network and Resource Management. “Finnair is the only European airline to fly a scheduled route to Sapporo, and with five key Japanese cities in our network, we are now the largest European carrier flying to Japan.”
